Thursday's Theory

It seems as though I have a lot of scenarios with my blog tied in with days of the week. We've got "Top Ten Tuesday," "Wednesday's Wisdom," and today, I'm adding "Thursday's Theories." Actually, that name just conveniently fits in with my newest idea, inspired by a video clip I saw on Janell's blog from this post. His clever narrative was so inspiring to me!

It would involve looking into the hearts and minds of children. I believe that children are nature's most honest and authentic individuals. Somewhere along the line, age builds a bridge between "the real us" and "who we want to be," and we lose that sense of authenticity that used to come so naturally. As soon as self becomes conscious of others and lets society and insecurities dictate, that "real factor" is a slow but sure fade.

My theory is that most kids possess this innocent and authentic approach to life and its expression... and if you can capture those moments when a kid is so honest, so real, so true... it's a beautiful story.

When shooting (pictures of) kids, my least favorite environment is the one that happens most often: me with the camera, and about 3-5 adults including the child's parent(s) behind me waving hands, toys, candy, and shouting. It usually ends up working itself out, but I would rather it just be me and the child, alone. I love to just let kids "be" and follow them around, get to know them. The most beautiful times come in those candid moments when you are able to capture a little one's steps, faces, curiosity, wonder, and mischievousness. Let a kid show you the image, not the other way around. It's just a matter of being open and catching the moment.

In my Utopian world (I live there as much as possible), I would hand out video cameras to kids, walk away, and let them go. See what kind of footage they could come up with. From there, I think it would be awesome to construct a film about "Through the Eyes of a Child."

I think it could be a powerful story, if not altogether clever and humorous. Within the past year, I was inside of an Athropologie store and picked up a book called Postsecret. Some of you may have heard of this project, but it was the first time I saw it. Basically, the concept is this: anyone is invited to decorate one side of a post card, revealing a secret about one's self, and send it in. Many of these have been published into books, such as the one I viewed. This information is also posted online. It was a very intriguing concept, as some of the mail art and wording ranged from brilliant to shocking to clever to silly to creative. I'm not sure how this concept really fits into my video idea-- I suppose the correlation would be the effort to reveal authentic truths. In either situation, the goal is to catch the honesty that lies inside of all of us. Tell me something real. Show me something true. Narrate a story, reveal a secret, laugh and have fun.

So, don't be alarmed if you are out for a stroll on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the near future and you see a couple of toddlers running around with a video camera.

That might be my determination to bring to production my very first "Thursday's Theory."

Love you all.

T